Commercial broadcast stations have long had the middle of September penciled in on their calendars each year as a reminder of regulatory fee payments that must be made to the FCC. As of the publishing of this newsletter, the Commission had not quite issued the order adopting the regulatory fee schedule and filing window, but it should be available by the end of this week. The filing window will probably be sometime during the second half of September, and the deadline will certainly be before the end of September. The FCC doesn’t notify stations, so checking the website is necessary. Late payments have the privilege of paying a penalty equal to a whopping 25% of the fee due.

We’re hoping that the FCC’s Fee Filer system is activated for regulatory fees soon, which enables stations to log in, see how much they owe, and pay the fees online (that’s the only way to remit the fees). You can access the Fee Filer system now, but it has a disclaimer that the FY 2017 Regulatory Fee module is not yet activated. Astute observers will see that there is a new way to access the system this year – via a CORES Username login (ugh). But luckily, there is still a way to login with the station licensee’s FRN and password as well. It would not surprise us if by next year, the only way to access the system is via a valid CORES Username.